Decaffeinated coffee.



NATHAN ROSEWATER, OF CLEVELAND,

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1,016,294. No Drawing. 1

Specification of Letters Patent;

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NATHAN.ROSEWATER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cleveland, in the county. of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio,have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in DecaffeinatedCofiee and Processes of Producing the Same, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description.

The primary object of m invention is to substantially eliminate ea einor xanthin bases. or. salts as constituents of natural coffee beans andother natural beans con-- taining the same, without using chemicals orsolvents other than water in the process, and to produce a purifiedproduct which will greatly resemble the natural beans, and

.from' which product, after grinding, or

roasting and grinding, one may make, by the usual methods, but in ashorter time, a beverage which can scarcely be distin-v guished by itsaroma, taste and appearance from that made from the natural roasted beencommonly used for thispurpose.

completeness with which the solution of ex-' tractives has proceeded.The result-of this treatment is to remove from the beans and to formtherefrom an-extract of those constituents of the beans which aresoluble in cold. water, consisting of tannin, sugarsand mucilaginoussubstances, etc'., and only negligible traces of caifein or otherxanthin constituents. The beans are next macerated in hot water, kept asnear as possible to a temperature of 212 F., This step may be repeatedfor any number of times, and each maceration m'ay becontinued for anysuitable length of time depending upon the completeness with w ich onedesires to remove the cafi'ein and other xanthin constituents which. aresoluble in hot water. And moreover it should be carried on until thebeans are denuded of their thin cover skin. The hot water, after thebeans have been macerated. in it, will be a weak extract Applicationfiled March 29, 1911. Serial No. 817,681.

of cafi'ein, and other xanthin constituents, together with smallquantities of tannic acld, sugars and mucilage. The beans beingsegregated from the wateraresufficiently dried; and upon them is added amore or less concentrated solution made by evaporating the first or thefirst one or two cold water extracts previouslyformed, as abovedescribed. This concentracted extract will "be uniformly absorbed. intoand be deposited Patented Feb. e, 1912.

over the surface of the beans.- The beans v are then dried, and theproduct, as a commercial product, is completed. It may, thereafter, beroasted just as untreated beans are, and the roasted product may beground, and a beverage made from the ground product.

The product which results in the carry- I ;ing on of the above namedprocess, ending with, as the final step, the drying of; the beans, willgreatly resemble natural beans, but will have been deprived ofpractically all of their xanthinalkaloids, but will have had restored tothem in difi'erent positional coating also serves to seal more or lesscompletely into the bean the aromatic and volatile constituents whichhave not been removed, or'are formed by roasting.

Exam le: If we start with 101 poundsof green,.w ole Java coffee beans,one pound of this may be taken and assayed after being finely ground.The assay will show about one per cent.' of caffeinfand fifteen percent. of total water soluble extractives. maining 100 pounds of wholebeans .are placed in a suitable containin at a tem rature of 33 to 42F., and this is kept y suitable means at this temper- The revessel tovwhich is added about 150 pints 0 cold water.

relation to the structure of the bean, but in ature, and the mass slowlyand carefully C stirred while the maceration proceeds. Thebeansimmediately begin to absorb the-water and to swell until in aboutthree or four hours they will have absorbed about one hundred pints ofwaterand have swollen into overdouble their original size. After thismaceration has been allowed to proceed for about twelve hours, more orless, and

when the liquid ceases to show any substantial gain inspecific gravity,the fluid is' drained from the beans, and enough more of the cold wateris added to again fully cover the swollen beans, which will requireabout one-hundred and eighty pints. The maceration is allowed toproceed, as before, after which, the second fluid is drained from thebeans. The first extract will containabout fifty per -'cent. of the coldwater soluble ex tractions. The second extract about thirty per cent.more. If a'third cold water macbecause those substances are almostinsoluble in water at the temperature specified.

,If, however, it is desired .to remove from these cold water extractssuch small amount of .caffein and other xanthin alkaloids as may havebeen dissolved therein the extracts may be evaporated at a temperatureof about 212 F. until a concentrated solution is formed which, at thetemperature of 33 to 42 F. it has about the consistency of honey orsyrup. This solution-will, on standing half an hour, more or less. atthe low temperature stated, separate the cafi'ein and other Xanthinalkaloids out of the solution and the liquid can be filtered so as tofree it from such substances. Of course, one might use any of severalother well known methods of removing the small quantity of caifein andother xanthin alkaloids from the cold water solution instead of themethod stated.

The beans being segregated from the cold water are now macerated withlarge vol umes, say one-thousand pints of hot water at about 210 F.After-standing in this water for threehours, moreor less, the water mabe drained off and thrown away and fres hot water added, and the beansallowed to' macerate therein. Thismay be repeated as many times asdesired. The hot water solutions thus obtained will contain caflein andother xanthin alkaloids, but only small negligible quantities of thosesubstances whichare soluble in cold water. During each hot watermaceration approximately one-tenth of the cafi'ein and other xanthinalkaloids will be removed. I It follows,

therefore, that about ten of these macera- "'tio'ns will havepractically.eliminated the caffein andother xanthin alkaloids from the.beans. The proportion of these substances:

each hot water charge is so slight that itis not thoughtthat it will be.practically worth while-to attempt to save andrecover them. These hotwater extracts may, therefore, be 'thrown away. These hot water extractsalso contain so small a proportion of the constituents which are solublein cold water that it is not worth while to save them. About .90 percent. of such constituents recovered by three cold water macerations isthought to be sufficient for practical purposes, and all thatpractically it will pay to try to save.

During tlre repeated macerations of the beans in hot water the delicateskin covering the substances of the beans will have been swollen,loosened and shed, and the bean, on magnified inspection, will be foundto be denuded, and therefore distinguishable from naturalor unalteredbeans, although the gross appearance will not appear to be changed. 7

The beans, after the described treatment, are'drained and subjected to adrying process. When sufliciently dried, they are to be covered by aconcentrated solution of the cold water extracts,said solution beingconcentrated until it has about the consistency of honey or syrup. Thedried beans will uniformly absorb this concentrated solution, whereby itagain becomes a constituent part of the beans, except that the removedsubstances will occupy different ositional relations to the cellular andother component elements of the bean, especially the fats which have notbeerrremoved and have not had their original positions altered. Thechemical composition of the substances removed by the cold water andrestored to the beans, as above stated, have not, however,

been changed. Finally the beans are to be dried. I

While the beans are being caused to absorb the cold water extractives,much of the latter will be deposited upon the surface of the beans. Whenthe dried beans are subsequently roasted, the beans will acquire aglazed appearance due to the caramelizing during the roasting process ofthe sugar, dextrm, etc., deposited on the surface of the beans. Thisseals the pores of the beans, so as .to prevent any substantial escapeof the aromas or other volatile constituents which the beans now carry.

The hereinbefore described process has probably its greatest commercialvalue when employed to de-cafleinate coffee beans. There are, however,other natural beans which are commonly employed in making beverages towhich the same treatment ma be applied, with the same result ofeliminating therefrom a very large percentage of the cafi'ein orotherxanthin bases or salts.

Having described my invention, I claim: 1. The described process ofpurifying vegetable beans containing cafieinand other xanthin alkaloids,which consists in first macerating said beans in very cold water to formacold water extract of those constituents of the beans which will bedissolved in very cold water second, insubsequently macerating sa Kibeans 1n hot water to form hot Water extract of such remainingconstituents.

oi the beans as will dissolve in hot water; and in then restoring saidcold water extractives to said beans in' altered positional relationsbut in unaltered chemical condition.

2. The described process of treating vegetable beans containing" caifeinand other xanthin alkaloids, which consists in first maccrating thebeans in very cold Water, thereby producing a cold water extract of suchof the ingredients of thebeans as will be dissolved by said very coldwater; in-subsequently macerating said beans in hot water, therebyproducing an'extract of caffein and other xanthin alkaloids andsuchother sub stances remaining in the beans as will be dissolved by suchhot water, and in continuing the hot water macerations until the beanshave been denuded of their external skin; in concentrating the coldwater extract; in drying the beans and immersing them in saidconcentrating cold water extract-and allowing the dried beans to absorbthe same; and in finally drying said beans, substantially as specified.

The described'process of treating vegetable beans containing cafl'einand other xanthin alkaloids, which consists. in repeatedly inaceratingthe beans in very cold water thereby roducing cold water extracts ofsuch of the ingredients of the beans as will be dissolved by very coldwater; in subsequently repeatedly macerating the said beans in hotwater, thereby producm extracts of caffein and other xanthin al aloidsand such othe substances remaining in the beans which wil dissolve inhot water, and in continuing this hot water maceration until the beanshave been denuded of their external skin; in drying the beans; inconcentrating some of the first produced cold water extracts to aboutthe consistency of honey; in immersing the dried bean in thisconcentratedcold water extract, whereby the same will be absorbed intoand upon the beans; and in finally drying said beans, substantially asspecified.

4. As a new product (article of manufac-j ture) whole vegetablei beanswhich have been denuded of their outer cover skin and from which much ofthe extractives soluble in both cold water and in hot water have beenremoved, and to which the extractives soluble in very cold water onlyhave been restored in unaltered chemical c0ndition,-said extractivesbeing absorbed into and deposited u on the denuded surface of said beansto orm a sealing glaze.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence oftwofwitnesses. NATHAN ROSEWATER. Witnesses:

H. R. SULLIVAN, I

A. F. KWIS.

